Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-02-17
Impure Ice.

Impure Ice.
One of the best illustrations of the
progress of civilization in recent years is
found, says the Sanitary Engineer, in the
change which has taken place with regard
to the use of ice. What was formerly
the luxury of the few has now become
almost a necessity for the many; the
preservation and transportation of ice,
o. its manufacture by artificial means,
and its regular delivery during the warm
months, has become an important bust
ness, giving employment to a large num-
Der of men and requiring large amount
of invested capital. This extended use
Fifteen years ago ice was not to be had
at the smaller hotels in Europe, and at
the best ones it was special luxury, we'll
charged for. Now it can be had without
extra charge at almost any hotel, large or
small, though it is by no means used in
the profusion in which it to be found
here.
Questions as to the dangers to health
connected with the use of ice taken from
certain localities are therefore of great
interest, the more so since disease pro-
duced by the use of contaminated ice
could rarely be traced to its true cause,
which in most cases would probably not
be even suspected. Attention was in
fact not called to this matter until
1875, when an epidemic of diarrhea at
Rye Beach, f. H., was clearly traced to ice
cut from a contaminated pond. Since
that time the same cause has been sus
pected or proved in about half-a-dozen
cases of occurrence of typhoid fever or of
diarrhea. Certainly this is very small
proportion of bad results as compared
with the almost universal use of ice, es-
peclally when we remember that people
will cut ice from streams or ponds that
that they would consider too impure to
furnish drinking water, because they
think that freezing purifes the water.
While the publication of water by freez-
ing does occur to considerable extent,
it is by no means complete or to be relied
on.
Freezing does not destroy the vitality
of some bacteria, nor does it specially
tend to free the water from dead organic
matter. That freezing will not destroy
the life of the bacillus of typhoid fever is
shown by DR.. Billings in communica-
ton.
It will be seen fsom what has been said
that when health authority is called on
decide whether the water of particu-
lar stream or pond is or is not SO impure
that ice cut from it will probably be dan
gerous to health, it can only proceed on
probabilities, since it will very rarely be
possible to prove that ice taken from
that particular locality, or even the water
from the same place has caused disease.
Nevertheless these probabilities may be
quite sufficient to warrant the fOrbiddiDg
the sale of ice taken from a particular
spot. This seems to have been the case
as regards ice cut from Onondaga lake
which the city board of health of Syria
cuse, in this state, forbade to be sold for
any use which would bring it into direct
contact with articles of food or drink.
The firm engaged in packing and selling
this ice bjeoted to this interference with
their business, whereUpon, Mr.. James L.
Gardener investigated the matter for the
state board of healt, which has published
his report. Mr.. Gardener found that
Onondaga lake is contaminated with
sewage; that the contamination ID in
creasing from the sewers of Syracuse,
and that ice taken from it contains liv-
ing bacteria of various kinds, and about
ten per cent. of the sewage matters
IN the water from which it is fOred. He
therefore approves the order of the city
board of health, and the propriety and
wisdom of this decision can hardly be
questioned.